IS SANTA CLAUS ALREADY IN TOWN?

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Source: uckg.org

 

‘YEMI MOTOLANI

UI atmosphere is presently thick with tension as a result of the SU election bound to hold barely few days from now; a lot of funny news stories have been going round campus in the name of election campaigns. It is no news that Nigerian politicians, even student politicians, employ strategic approach in getting the support. By extension, this includes votes from the ladies in Awo, Idia and Queens Halls of Residence. By this approach, male student politicians find cheap ways of getting their support. Ladies are the major targets of these campaigns as they are perceived to be easily swayed, not only by sweet talks, but also by gifts used as baits to entice them to get their votes. With the state of Nigerian politics, awareness has been made to the Nigerian public about how wrong it is for politicians to give out money or petty gift items to electorates in exchange for their votes. Awareness has also been created about how unwise it is for electorates to give out their votes in exchange for a congo of rice, and consequently, bad government. One then wonders why a university community, one that is supposedly filled with intellectual people and training ground for future leaders, is involved in this kind of degrading act.

Now, my message should not be misinterpreted or insinuated to be against any aspirant in the coming election but should be taken to be what I have observed in the last few days and the reports I have gathered from fellow UItes about how campaigns are done. It is okay to hold campaigns as it is an avenue to get close to the electorates and sometimes get feedback from them about what they need most. What is not acceptable is that some SU aspirants have turned themselves to Santa Claus, sharing end of the year gifts to people as a medium for influencing their decisions in the coming elections.

Since the campaign began, ridiculous approaches have been employed by student politicians to get a good number of votes out of the female halls. It is commonly believed that the votes of ladies can be easily won with superficial things. As a result, some of the male aspirants would offer to buy them food, give them a lift, throw money directly and indirectly in their faces, lure them with tons of opportunities, walk them to their halls of residence from any part of the school, give out branded shirts, amongst many others. Unfortunately, a number of ladies are easily enticed and swayed to their side by this.

It has been reported in some corner that a particular male SU aspirant has been paying for the transport fare of some ladies, giving out tickets to events. In fact, it was reported that he was at a female hall of residence to help the ladies wash their plates and help them fetch water! The beneficiaries of these ‘Christmas gifts’ automatically become witnesses of the goodnews, telling everyone to vote for their beloved candidate. Some ladies have also been reported to be giving male aspirants ideas of ‘gifts’ to give out to other ladies to earn their votes.

One could then ask the place of intellectualism in all of this as these vote buying cum inducement is devoid of all forms of sense and intellect. One could ask again what happened to engaging a political aspirant in a conversation to find out what s/he has to offer. As a matter of fact, what happened to putting sentiments aside to study these candidates to know what they are capable of? Why would you gamble with your rights by placing it in the hands of an incapable person who does not know what leadership even means? Why would you in an intellectual environment such as UI trade your vote for gifts? It is painful that it is the ladies that are always easily bought over by male aspirants in any election. By collecting gifts in order to favour any aspirant, it only lends credence to their claim of about many of us being superficial in our thinking. This is despicable and should be condemned.

However, some self-acclaimed feminists and women rights advocates in the university are caught in this web. These are the same ladies who would cuss and curse when their Santa Claus starts to misbehave when he tastes power. Credibility and the sterling qualities of a candidate should be the determining factors and not whether a candidate is handsome, rich, and poor or has given a cheap offer or assistance. An offer to buy you a ticket for a show does not mean s/he is capable of leading you. We need to get it right, right now. As ladies, we should not continue to be moved by cheap propaganda or subtle means of vote buying in the name of lending a helping hand without close examination. .

As ladies, we should start exercising our intellectual capabilities by putting aspirants in a ring of intellectual engagements and examine what they have in store for the Students’ Union and the entire student populace. By now, we all should be tired of the ugly situation Nigeria is currently in. We will be doing more harm to ourselves and the country by further contributing to the decadence when we don’t exercise intellectualism from a place such as this but instead to vote for the Santa with the best gift. Your Santa Claus today might become a corrupt tyrant tomorrow. By that time, you will lack the effrontery to question him since you were a major beneficiary of his charity donations and community service and never bother to query his personal qualities. This should be easy for us to do the same way many among us are easy to collect gifts from aspirants without questions.

Let us put away all sentiments, feelings and emotions, and vote for a candidate because he has what it takes to be a leader. The present state of Nigeria’s leadership is enough to draw wisdom from. If enticing gifts meant good leadership, Nigeria will definitely not be where it is now. Leadership is a nature, and should not be bought with cheap campaign giveaways. Ability to question people should not be sacrificed on the altar of gifts or community service. Do not be apathetic. Your votes are needed as they count. Make your own choice. Give your votes to a deserving leader. Do not let people dictate to you, who you should, or should not vote for. Be wary of them that share gifts so as not to say yes when you mean to say no.

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